Chapter Text
For most of Shouto's life, he had hated fire. Just like everyone else, he associated his father with fire, but unlike everyone else—or at least, most people—he knew that his father was a bastard. That man had ensured that Shouto associated fire with pain, suffering, and cruelty.
As he stood in the burning city of Hosu, staring up at the sky darkened by the smoke, and hearing the sounds of the chaos all around, he figured that he had the right idea.
It had been a relatively short time since the police let the heroes into the city and they hadn't taken a break since. Today was the first time since he had arrived on Monday that he had left the mansion, and he had only been on patrol with Purifier for a couple hours when they got the call about Hosu.
When he was out on patrol, and especially once they had arrived at Hosu, it was like Purifier was a different person. He was still focused, driven, and grim, but he acted with much more intensity than he had at the mansion. Ever since they left on patrol, his eyes had been burning like bright pools of molten gold, and they had only grown brighter since they stepped through the portal into Hosu.
Purifier had wasted absolutely no time getting to work once they were given the go-ahead. He had transformed into that horse-dog-dragon thing that Izuku had used against him at the Sports Festival and whisked him onto his back before dashing into the city. The running mass of heroes had made way for the massive, golden beast and it didn't take long for them to dive straight into the center of the city.
In many ways, he could compare Purifier to his father. Both were fire heroes, of course, but they were also people with personalities that were less than friendly. While Purifier wasn't as abusive or severe as his father, Shouto had felt more at-home under Purifier than he had expected when he signed up for the internship.
He couldn't deny the efficacy of their training methods. In just a few days, Purifier had taught Shouto much about using his fire and gave him new insights that he, nor his father, had considered. It would serve him well, even if his internship wasn't the most pleasant experience in his life. Purifier was far from cruel, but rather strict and demanding. He was fair, but had high expectations.
In many ways, it was a step up for him.
In Hosu, Purifier's immunity to fire served him well in the intervening minutes. He was able to run inside the burning buildings to look for survivors when others couldn't, and he was able to fly around easily despite the heavy smoke in the air that should have choked him. The hero was a man driven by a single purpose, which he chased relentlessly; there would be nobody left behind if he could reach them.
He shared that determination with Shouto's father. They were heroic, but severely so, unlike All Might or Stormclaw. They worked with an efficiency and a methodical drive that made them intimidating, rather than inspiring.
Something told him that Purifier preferred it that way. He wasn't the type to give many interviews or spend time rubbing elbows with people. Purifier valued his solitude, which he could appreciate.
Shouto was helping to treat someone's burns when he heard someone call out.
"Purifier!" the man yelled, running up to the two. It was a police officer.
Purifier stood tall, glaring down at the man with a flat, judging look. "What is it?"
"We found him," the man continued, panting slightly. "We found Endeavor. We need your help."
Shouto's eyes went wide as he stood up. He saw the headline that his father was in the city looking for the Hero Killer, and he had been worried that he had gotten caught up in the attack.
This confirmed his fears.
Shouto had seen how the people in Hosu had been affected by the gas; he could scarcely imagine what would have happened to his father.
"Lead the way," Purifier said with an edge to his voice that Shouto hadn't heard before. "Flashpoint, you should stay here."
"What?" Shouto shot back in surprise. "No way."
Purifier glanced back and looked at him with his glowing eyes. He looked far more… human than Shouto had ever seen him, his eyes filled with a mix of pain, regret and sorrow, as if he was reliving a painful, far-off memory.
"No son should have to see his father like this," the man said simply.
Shouto wasn't having any of it. "I'm coming with you," he returned firmly.
Purifier looked at him silently for a few seconds, his eyes softer than he had ever seen. "Very well," he finally answered.
Midoriya's vision snapped to Kyouka as soon as she rounded the corner, his eyes widening for a brief moment before erupting in light. "Jirou?! What are you doing here?!"
Stain pivoted, glancing back with a hand on one of his bandolier knives. "Who are you?" he growled, sending a chill down her spine.
"You get away from him," she muttered back, trying to contain the shaking in her legs.
"No, no, no," Midoriya hissed frantically. "You shouldn't be here. Go! Run! Get out of here!"
Kyouka's eyes darted between Midoriya and Stain's. "And leave you with him? Are you nuts?! We both need to get out of here!"
Stain scoffed. "One of your friends, Dragon? She better not get in my way. My mission remains unchanged."
"What mission is that?" Midoriya retorted. "I'm not a hero; neither of us are! We're students , just let us leave!"
"She can leave," Stain said dismissively, turning his gaze back to Midoriya. "You are my target. You might not be a hero, but you're a Midoriya."
"What does that even mean?!" Midoriya called out.
"Stormclaw. Purifier. Ryukyu. I've been watching them all for years. They all have that same underlying greed, that same sickness that has corrupted this society." He drew his sword and leveled it at Midoriya. "They are the rot that needs to be cut out. I am guessing that you're the same."
"But you don't know that," Midoriya responded, somewhat more calmly.
Kyouka noticed that his eyes were glowing brightly, but a little differently. His eyes had that same glint of intelligence, but it was almost like someone else was looking through them.
"What if I told you that I'm completely different than them?" he continued. "You can't know without letting me leave. Your mission—perhaps 'crusade' is a better word for it—isn't founded on 'guesses', is it?"
Stain smirked. "You're right. It's not. However, men reveal their true nature when faced with death. I will put you through that trial. Pass, and I'll let you live. Fail, and you will die."
Midoriya stared at Stain for a few moments, then over at Kyouka, then back at the villain. Scales grew across his body as he bulked up and grew several inches taller. His face stretched out into that same draconic humanoid shape he had used at the USJ. "Fine. I accept your trial."
"Are you nuts?!" Kyouka yelled. "Fuck that ! Excuse me if I don't think Stain is exactly a fair judge!"
Stain's eyes snapped back to her. "Run while you can. Interfere with my mission and I will lay you low."
God, she wanted to run. She wanted to run and never see Stain again, but she couldn't just leave Midoriya alone with him. She needed to get to him and then the both of them needed to run as fast as they could and find some pros. They were swarming all over the place, it wouldn't be that hard, but Midoriya was trying to fight this madman for some goddamn reason.
"I won't let you risk it," Midoriya responded, his eyes not leaving Stain. "It's too dangerous."
Kyouka had officially had enough of whatever weirdness was going through Midoriya's head. "Of course it's dangerous, you emerald bastard! How can I call myself a hero if I run off and let you face it alone?!"
Midoriya's eyes snapped to her and narrowed slightly before returning to Stain. "You are right. Thank you, Jirou."
Stain huffed. "So be it."
The man began to run at Midoriya, surprising both of them with his speed. He swung his sword down as Midoriya's scales flashed and shifted, his blade clashing against Midoriya's arm, but being deflected by the hardened plates. With his left, Stain gripped a dagger and begun to swing it at Midoriya's stomach, but a cloud of green gas poured from his mouth, causing Stain to jump back.
The gas cleared slowly as Stain stared Midoriya down. Now that he wasn't in her classmate's face, Kyouka could actually help. She quickly jacked into one of her boots and pushed with all her strength, sending her heartbeat pounding through the speakers.
Stain was fast, but he wasn't supersonic.
The soundwaves smashed into the Hero Killer, jarring him violently and causing him to stumble. Midoriya took the opportunity to attack again, breathing another poison cloud at the man as he grew his wings and charged, fist raised.
Stain was too quick and jumped over Midoriya's arm, bringing his spiked boot down at the dragon's shoulder. Fortunately, Midoriya used his wings to twist in a way that normal people couldn't move, avoiding the Hero Killer's attack and putting some distance between them.
Thankfully, that move also flipped their positions, leaving Midoriya with his back to Kyouka and allowing her to move up to him.
The man put a hand out as she approached, stopping her approach as he took a deep breath and unleashed a huge torrent of gas, like he had on the roof of the dorm Saturday night. The dark green cloud rolled and roiled around in the alley, churning like a sickly storm.
"Did you get him?" Kyouka asked softly.
"You can hear better than I," he responded. Man, that voice was cool.
Kyouka's stomach dropped as she heard Stain moving just as quickly in the gas as he had before.
"Blocking your field of view against an opponent faster than you," Stain growled, his voice sounding muffled. "Rookie mistake."
Kyouka heard him rapidly approaching and turned her boot toward him, shooting another blast of sound that dispersed the gas and caused the Hero Killer to stumble back.
"Thank you for covering for my mistake," Midoriya said, his gaze not leaving Stain. "And thank you for refusing to leave, Heartjack."
Hearing him say her hero name in that voice bolstered her confidence. She could do this. They could do this.
Kyouka took a deep breath. "I'm with you, Defiant. People will be here soon."
Both of them refocused on Stain as the gas cleared. A gas mask covered his mouth and nose, which was clearly what had let him survive Midoriya's attack so easily.
"A mask?"
Stain made a noise of satisfaction behind the gas mask. "I couldn't be sure that Shigaraki wasn't going to unleash a second wave of the gas, so I came prepared."
"Shigaraki?" Midoriya repeated. "So it was the League of Villains that orchestrated this."
Kyouka looked up at Midoriya to see what he wanted to do; they had just lost one of their big tools to keep him at range.
She only had a fraction of a second to react before a dagger flew right by her face, slicing her cheek open slightly.
Midoriya snarled in anger as he looked at her to make sure she was alright, then back at Stain. His body bulked up further as he took a step to interpose himself further between the villain and Kyouka.
Stain's piercing eyes focused on her, his aura of madness seeming to grow stronger as he drew another blade. "You're proving to be quite a nuisance."
"You will not lay a hand on her while I still breathe," he declared.
Stain's eyes seemed to grow more manic. "You cannot stop me. Nobody can stop me."
"Get a better one-liner."
Stain jumped again, leaping against the wall and back down toward Midoriya, his sword raised to attack. Kyouka saw her opportunity and shot one of her jacks out, surprising Stain with just how far they could stretch.
She wrapped around his sword arm as his eyes went wide, pulling it back and restricting his motion. Midoriya took the opportunity to almost double the size of his arm and swing his clawed hand forward, cutting through the katana like it was made of paper.
Pieces of metal clattered to the ground as Stain pulled a knife with his other hand and aimed for Kyouka's extended jack. She quickly released his arm and retracted it as Midoriya surged forward, slamming into Stain and tackling him back into the wall.
Stain swung his blade at Midoriya's gut, but the man pulled back enough for him to miss. The villain used that moment to drive the heel of his boot into Midoriya's knee, making him buckle and use his wings to kick away from Stain.
Both men drew themselves back up, panting slightly as they glared at each other.
Stain was getting better at anticipating Midoriya's movements. Each time they clashed, Stain got closer and closer to hurting him.
They had to end this quickly.
Kyouka shifted her foot to attack Stain again, but this time he was ready. He wasn't faster than sound, but he was faster than her, and she wasn't able to dodge the knife he threw at her shin. Pain shot up her leg as the knife smashed through the speakers and embedded itself in her shin.
She looked up in time to see Stain on top of her, another blade drawn and swinging down, aiming right at one of her jacks.
Katsuki squinted at the massive fireball that was swirling like a storm a few blocks away. The damn thing was so bright and so hot, it was like he was staring into the midsummer sun. Even at this distance, he still felt the heat pounding against him.
What he could make out through the shining light wasn't good. Everything within a hundred feet of Endeavor was completely incinerated. Concrete buildings were crumbled, steel supports were melted, and anyone nearby was certainly dead.
"I didn't know that Endeavor was capable of that kind of power," Katsuki mumbled.
"He's not," All Might answered from beside him. "At least, not normally. He must have inhaled a large amount of the gas to still be burning like this."
Katsuki looked up at the man, whose perpetual smile looked far more forced than it normally did. In the glow of the fire, the age lines on All Might's face looked deeper, reminding Katsuki just how long he had been a hero. This was far from the worst disaster that All MIght had ever seen, but to see him still so affected both comforted and unsettled him.
"Can you do anything?" Katsuki asked, already knowing the answer.
All Might shook his head. "If I were to interfere, I would likely only make things worse. To cut a path through that fire would almost certainly incinerate the nearby blocks. We have to wait for Purifier."
Katsuki clicked his tongue. Izuku's uncle was a fine hero, but he was about as personable as rock.
In all honesty, he was more than just a 'fine' hero. Purifier was incredibly powerful and had a work ethic that put almost all heroes to shame. It was hard to compare, but Katsuki believed that Purifier was even more powerful than Uncle Hisashi. If he wasn't such an isolationist and a gruff bastard, he would almost certainly be in the top ten.
"Uh, All Might, sir?" came a nervous voice from behind them. They turned around to see a young looking police officer saluting.
"Calm down, son," All Might said in a level, almost fatherly voice. "What's going on?"
The officer nodded once, clearly stressed. "One of them just woke up and Detective Tsukauchi was about to begin interviewing her. He thought you might want to sit in."
All Might nodded. "Thank you. Come, Young Bakugou."
The two of them walked over to a small medical tent that had been set up, passing by several unconscious and wounded people who were lying on cots and stretchers all around. All Might lifted the flap and ducked inside, followed quickly by Katsuki.
Sitting on a chair in the middle of the room was a fairly nondescript man with a badge on his vest. His trenchcoat and hat were slung over the chair, as it was much too hot to be wearing them.
"Detective," All Might said professionally.
The man looked up and nodded. "Thank you for coming, All Might. Who is this?" he asked, gesturing at Katsuki.
All Might clapped him gently on the shoulder. "This is Young Bakugou, the intern I told you about."
Katsuki raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, right," Tsukauchi said, nodding along. "It's a pleasure to meet you, young man. All Might and I go way back. Unfortunately, we don't have time for pleasantries right now."
He turned away from the two and over to the bed he was sitting beside, pulling out a notebook as he looked at the woman sitting in it.
Katsuki recognized her. She was one of Endeavor's sidekicks.
"Can you state your name for the record, please?" Tsukauchi asked.
The woman nodded. "Moe Kamiji. Hero name: Burnin'."
She was well-known for her boisterous and brash personality, but right now, she seemed like an entirely different person. Her hair, the same color of burning copper, usually floated around her head in wild strands, lending to her 'fiery' persona, but right now it was all hanging loose and limply around her head. Her red-and-orange-ringed eyes were filled with sorrow and regret and her shoulders were slumped.
She looked like hell.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Tsukauchi continued calmly. "Anything can help."
Burnin' nodded again. "We were patrolling around Hosu—Endeavor and several of us, I mean—looking for the Hero Killer. We were passing under an overpass when suddenly… I don't know what happened. I was hanging back a little, posing for some kids who wanted a picture, when there was suddenly this explosion. I whipped around to see this huge burst of dark gas enveloping the boss and a bunch of the others."
She paused, taking a shaky breath. "Endeavor worked quickly, unleashing a huge plume of fire to pull as much of the gas up and away as he could, but I saw him coughing and sputtering. He was… right at the epicenter of that gas. He… yelled, 'Run!' and so I reached down, grabbed the two kids and bolted. I didn't look back, I just kept running and running and I could feel the heat growing behind me and…"
She stopped again, centering herself with a breath. "That's the last thing I remember. Are those kids okay?"
Tsukauchi nodded. "They're going to be fine. Some of the other heroes found you collapsed on top of them just outside the fireball."
Burnin' sighed in relief. "If you didn't find anyone else… anybody who was still there… there's no way that they…"
"We have found some others," Tsukauchi answered. "We'll fill you in on the details later, but thank you for what you've given us."
Burnin' nodded and looked down, staring at her charred uniform silently.
All Might and Tsukauchi exchanged a glance before he led Katsuki out of the tent. Before Katsuki could say anything, All Might pointed back toward the fireball. "Ah, he's arrived."
Katsuki looked over to see Purifier standing perfectly still, staring into the cataclysmic inferno with Icyhot standing right next to him. They approached them, Purifier only turning to look at them as they got near.
"All Might," he said flatly.
"Purifier."
His glowing golden eyes looked down at Katsuki and narrowed slightly. "Bakugou."
"Purifier," Katsuki responded, mimicking All Might. What a dick.
"He's still in there," All Might explained. "We don't know what's going on in there, but judging from the other people we've encountered…"
Purifier nodded. "I understand."
He stepped forward, closer to the fire as he held up the syringe in his hand. Scales grew all over his body as he bulked up, growing in size and strength as he wrapped the sedative in his massive hand. He glanced back with that wizened, judgemental face of his, those long, thick whiskers hanging from his draconic maw. "I will do my best to not frighten him."
With that, he began to walk slowly into the fire, not even pausing as he hit the event horizon and Katsuki lost sight of him, having to avert his gaze.
Next to him, Icyhot sighed heavily.
Katsuki didn't really know what to say, but he felt like he should say something . "Purifier can handle this," he finally settle on. "Nothing Endeavor can do can hurt him."
Icyhot didn't look at him, but kept staring forward. "I am not worried about Purifier."
"Worried?" Katsuki repeated. "I always got the impression you weren't fond of your old man."
Icyhot's expression hardened. "He is a bastard, but he is still my father. I don't wish him death," he muttered coldly.
Katsuki got the message and shut up. He really didn't have a way with words, not like Izuku, and he should have known better than to have opened his fat mouth.
Hopefully Izuku was doing alright.
A flash of green and a clatter of blade against scale caused Kyouka to wince slightly.
Midoriya had dove in front of her, his arm bulging massively, almost the size of his entire body as it extended past her face to block the blade. Stain twisted his knife and found purchase in Midoriya's forearm, causing the man to snarl as one of his emerald scales fell to the ground.
Faster than she had ever seen, Midoriya swung his arm forward, catching Stain in the chest and hurling him back down the alleyway. Stain turned in mid-air and landed on his feet, holding the knife in front of his face.
Kyouka looked down and saw the small rivulets of green blood flowing down his scales as Midoriya squared up to stain.
"You hurt what's mine," Midoriya snarled.
Kyouka remembered him saying the same thing back when they sparred against 1-B. It felt… different this time. Midoriya sounded just as angry, if not more so, but it was more of a cold fury, rather than a hot rage.
Stain pulled off his gas mask, letting it hang around his neck as he began to extend his tongue toward the knife in his hands. His long, bumpy, disgusting tongue.
Gross.
"Be careful what you put in your mouth," Midoriya warned. "You don't know where that's been."
Stain licked the green blood and suddenly Midoriya gasped sharply.
"What did you do?!" he asked, a note of rage and fear in his voice.
Kyouka's heart began to beat faster as she looked up at the massive, draconic man. "What's wrong?! Are you okay?!"
Midoriya was twitching all over. "I can't move a muscle. It must be his quirk. When he licked my blood… That coincides with what experts surmised his quirk must be. Jirou, you have to run now. I can't protect you while he has me paralyzed."
Not this again. "I said fuck that then, and I'll say fuck that now. What kind of princess do you take me for? You think I'll let you take a knife for me and then just run?"
Midoriya snarled, but didn't respond.
While her words were brave, she wasn't feeling that confident. She couldn't move her left leg much without extreme pain, and she was down to one functional speaker.
She would just have to do what she could and hope that help would arrive in time.
Kyouka stumbled over to a nearby dumpster, leaning on it for support as she pointed her good leg at Stain and let loose a blast of sound. The man stumbled and almost fell down, which was more than she had been able to do before.
In fact, Stain looked unsteady as a whole.
His tongue was hanging loosely out of his mouth and his breathing appeared to be more labored than it had been.
"I warned you," Midoriya muttered with a low, sinister growl.
Kyouka was confused for only a moment. "What the…? Oh! Your blood!"
She remembered his speech at the festival, explaining that his blood was poisonous, although he was a little edgier than that at the time.
"It wasn't much," Midoriya explained in a low voice, still unable to move. "But it should affect him for a little bit."
Stain steadied himself, clutching his serrated blade tightly as his crazed eyes leveled on Kyouka once more. "Thith will not thtop my cruthade."
…
Kyouka blinked once before letting out an airy laugh. "Oh my God, it's Thtain. This would be hilarious if it wasn't so terrifying."
Stain began to charge again, his tongue flapping loosely in the wind as he closed on her. He was moving erratically to avoid the aim of her boot, but she had a better idea.
She put her right leg behind her left knee and waited until Stain was right on top of her.
Then she pushed with all her might.
The dumpster slammed forward, the edge catching Stain in the stomach as trash flew everywhere. He grunted in pain as he flew backwards, crashing into the ground and rolling once.
Okay, that felt really good. Kyouka couldn't help but smile a little, even with how scared she was.
Stain rose up slowly, drool falling from his mouth as he inhaled deeply, pulling back the breath Kyouka had knocked out of him. His fanatical eyes stared into Kyouka's soul, wiping the smile from her face faster than Aizawa ever was able.
He stood there for several seconds, letting his body recover and letting Midoriya's poison run its course. Like he said, it wasn't much, and Stain began to look like his normal, insane self much quicker than Kyouka would have liked.
She didn't have another dumpster to throw at him. She had to think fast.
Then, right as Stain prepared to dash at her and Midoriya again, he suddenly flinched and jumped backwards as another dumpster crashed down from the sky.
Kyouka's gaze flew upward, wondering where the hell that could have-
Standing on the edge of the roof, gazing down with stoic fury on her face, was Ochako.
In that moment, Kyouka had never found her more beautiful.
Ochako jumped down, landing first on a fire escape, and then the ground, pulling herself to her full height with her back to Kyouka and Midoriya.
"Ochako? What are you doing here?!" Midoriya asked.
"Don't worry," Ochako responded, glancing over her shoulder and forcing a smile onto her face. "I'm going to save you both."
Kyouka heard something else approaching, like a meteor falling from the sky.
With a massive crash that made Kyouka cover her ears, the dumpster that Ochako had thrown down was crushed like a pancake. As the dust cleared, Kyouka's eyes widened further.
Slowly rising to her full height was Miruko. She was a couple inches shorter than Kyouka, if you discounted the ears, but she was much more muscular. Even without that, she had a presence that made her seem like she would tower over All Might himself.
Miruko pointed at Stain as her tail and ears twitched excitedly.
"And I'm here to kick your ugly ass!"
Notes:
Sorry for another cliffhanger! I'm not actually that sorry, but I hope you're not too upset.
That being said, this brings WiaH month to a close, meaning I'll be picking up my other stories again! Announcement about that coming soon, but make sure to join the discord to stay up to date with me and my stories!